Golovkin, Team Say They Are Not Ducking Andre Ward

By Luis Sandoval

WBA Middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin is less than 2 weeks away from headlining his first fight at Madison Square Garden in New York when he takes on what most people consider his biggest challenge in Daniel Geale.

With Golovkin’s fight looming, Super Middleweight kingpin Andre Ward said in a recent interview that he feels Golovkin is ducking him as a fight between both fighters has often been discussed but has not come close to becoming a reality.

When BoxingScene spoke to Golovkin at his media day in Los Angeles, he was asked what his reaction was to Ward’s claim.

“It’s a little different situation. My story is my story and Andre’s story is Andre’s story. In the future I hope [to fight him]. [Ward and Chavez] are not [of] interest to me as right now I’m focused on my fight. Right now my focus is 160 and I’m open to everybody,” Golovkin would tell BoxingScene.

Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler of K2 Promotions also weighed in on Ward’s comment. Loeffler expressed he has the upmost respect for Ward as a fighter but he doesn’t understand how his fighter can be ducking Ward who is not even in his weight class.

“[Ward] is in a different division; he’s 168. Gennady said he would go to 168 if it’s a compelling fight. So it’s kind of hard to duck someone not in the same division. I can say there were a lot of middleweights ducking Gennady in the Middleweight division but [Ward is] a compelling fight,” said Loeffler.

While Golovkin has said he has no problem going to 168 to fight Ward, Loeffler points out another reason the fight may not happen right away is due to Ward not being the biggest or most lucrative fight available for Golovkin. There may be some intrigue for the fight to happen but the finances don’t add up in Loeffler’s opinion.

“Chavez, the reaction we got when it was just rumored to fight was tremendous. That would’ve been Gennady’s first fight on pay per view and first fight here in LA. There were a lot of interesting elements to that fight that made sense. As far as a fight with Ward, I’m sure at some point [it’ll happen]. It’s a great fight I just don’t think the finances are there right yet. It’s not a pay per view fight, Andre’s going to want a big chunk of money. And if Gennady goes up in weight, he’s going to want a big chunk of money and I just don’t think economically that’s going to work. Chavez was going to work because it was a pay per view fight and that’s how the economics worked on that” explained Loeffler.

Much like his fighter, Loeffler feels Golovkin’s focus is in the division he currently campaigns in and will continue to try to unify and fight the best fighters available there. That’s not to say he won’t consider a Super Middleweight fight but it would probably have to be against a top selling fighter.

“Carl Forch is another one. He sold 80,000 tickets in Wembley stadium. Gennady would go to the UK and fight a guy like Froch. So while we have a lot of respect for Andre, it’s hard to say someone’s ducking another fighter when he’s not in the division and I doubt Andre would come down to 160 to fight Gennady because that’s what he made Chad Dawson do. So it’s not really there right now. You can’t force a fight to happen. There’s still a lot of big names like Geale which is the biggest name Gennady’s fought so far,” said Loeffler.

The talks of Golovkin taking on the likes of Ward or any other challenger will be put to bed as the sole focus of the entire team is Daniel Geale. If victorious, Golovkin will once again reevaluate his options and go from there.

[QUOTE=hitking;14772336]What's sad is f.ucktards like yourself not only justifying, but celebrating this ass clown ducking somebody that would beat the living piss outta him. Just so y'all can continue the illusion that this clown is worth a f.uck. End of…

[QUOTE=just the facts;14773367]Just for the record it was GGGs team that said "We'll fight anyone from 154-168". I guess they should have said anyone but Andre Ward[/QUOTE]
Yes, just like Andre Ward said that he was ready to move up…

[QUOTE=Plutonium;14769843]Why do you care what his fans say? Listen to what GGG and his team say. Most of the boxing fans are not loyal. They forget their heros as soon as they lose.
Ever since GGG started to get recognition…